local lentils

Fully one of every three lentils in this country is grown at the eastern fringe of our humble state, in a region known as the Palouse. This rich and hilly patch of loess is a four to five hour drive from our doorstep, depending on how fast you take the town of Colfax, Wash., pop. 2700, reputed to be a big-time speed trap. It’s a fair drive from here to there, but one that some growers do on a weekly basis to get their meats and specialty goods to the Seattle-area farmers markets. And yet, you’ll never find lentils at these very same markets.

Why is this? We’re talking about a near-perfect protein, a legume that delivers tons of folic acid and fiber. And lentils are dry goods, which means they ship light and can store for long periods of time; they might just be the ideal national security food. But it happens that all in-state lentils are grown on a contract basis; large corporations provide farmers with their seeds and buy back the product. No doubt the system is efficient, but we pay a certain price; as of Y2K, for example, our state’s lentil growers had exhausted the efficacy of dithiocarbamate and organophosphate insecticides for their crops. See a newer post for additional details.

I bring up lentils at all because for dinner tonight I cooked up a pot of Melissa Clark’s lentil soup from yesterday’s NY Times. This soup was full-bodied, savory, and absolutely delectable with fresh bread, which I baked according to Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois’ 5-minutes-a-day method and ate hot out of the oven smeared with fluffy goat cheese. (Disclaimer: Jeff and Zoe suggest letting the loaf cool before tearing it apart.) It was filling enough for an entire meal, and I’m no bantamweight when it comes to eating.

Update: I made a modified batch of this soup for an herbivorous crowd and it was a hit. Here’s my adaptation of the recipe. The small, split red lentils are a key ingredient, as is the yogurt, which adds a nice hit of acid.

Heat 1 tbls oil in a soup pot over medium-high. Add onions, garlic, and carrots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, cumin, and chili powder or cayenne and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add broth, lentils and ¼ tsp salt. Cook 45 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Puree half of soup and recombine. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired. Garnish with a scoop of yogurt and sprinkled herbs. Feeds 4. Stores well. Adapted from Melissa Clark.

Good point. Talking with farmers is an excellent (and easy) way to have a real say in what you’re eating. I’m not optimistic in this case, though, for reasons of state geography. Lentils do best in a dry climate, so they’re tough to grow west of the Cascade mountains, where it rains too much in the spring, and too much in the fall, when the plants need to dry up completely. I imagine they could be a hard sell as a high-end product, being neither seasonal nor fresh, and they’re labor intensive to grow — plants must be netted once they begin to dry, to keep individual lentils from falling into the dirt. Most produce at our markets is grown within a fifty-mile radius, and Alvarez is one of the few to come from the other side of the mountains, with hot-climate crops like eggplants and peppers. (Meat is a different story.) It’s hard to imagine a small grower turning a profit on a low-margin product that has to be driven 500-plus miles round trip.

I called my friend Sam, who was born and raised in Moscow, Idaho, a sleepy college town that fancies itself the Lentil Capitol of the World. Sam loves cooking from his Pea-Lentil Commission cookbook and is known to give away bagged lentils at the holidays. He cannot recall ever buying local lentils in his hometown and thinks that what’s mostly available is beluga and lentils de puy, packed in attractive plastic bags tied with ribbon. We’ll investigate further.

Not so much a comment, as a plea for HELP. I can’t find any red lentils anywhere. I’ve looked constently at Puget Sound Co-op, but the haven’t had them in for months. And no explanation as to the absense of this item! So if any one knows of any reason please send me a hint!!! Thanks!